Global History

Overview | How does a multiethnic society come undone, and who’s to blame when it happens? If the “Arab Spring” uprisings across the Middle East inspire hope for democracy, the nearly 18-month-old conflict in Syria raises a darker possibility: civil conflict. Observers say religious and sectarian differences are increasingly fueling a war that has claimed an estimated 20,000 lives, pitting members of the ruling Alawite minority against a fractious Sunni Muslim majority.

In this lesson, students evaluate firsthand accounts of the war in Syria and make judgments about the role President Bashar al-Assad’s government may have played in stoking long-buried sectarian divisions. Extension activities allow students to probe more deeply into the causes of the war; understand efforts by outside governments to resolve it; and learn how individuals are trying to make a positive difference.Materials | Copies of article, “Neighbors Said to Be at Violent Odds in Syrian Crackdown,” for each student; white board or butcher paper for recording class ideas; wall map showing Syria and neighboring countries; optional computer with Internet connection and projector to display New York Times photos and video.

Please note: Since the situation in Syria is developing, you might choose to use a different article for the main activity. All Times articles about Syria can be found on the Syria Times Topics page, which also includes a timeline of events.

Warm-Up | Ask students:

How many of you have heard about a war going on right now in Syria? (Next, help students locate Syria on a wall map and orient them to other countries in the region that have been in the news: Egypt, Libya, Israel, Iraq, Iran, Jordan, and Lebanon.)

Then, tell students: We are going to be exploring the conflict in Syria, which many people are now calling a civil war. We will find out who’s fighting and why. And we’re going to do it the way reporters and outsiders often learn more about a dangerous war: by listening to people who have fled from the country or recently visited, and hearing their stories.

Next, show the slide show “Syrian Refugees Pour into Jordan” to provide students with a visual primer for the story that follows, which was reported from a refugee camp in a different location.

Related | In the March 29, 2012, article, “Neighbors Said to Be at Violent Odds in Syrian Crackdown,” The Times reporter Anne Barnard visited a refugee camp in Lebanon, where she interviewed Sunni Muslims who fled from a Syrian province which has seen some of the war’s heaviest fighting. They said the military gave guns to their neighbors from the Alawite minority, stoking sectarian tensions.

Sunni Muslims who have fled Syria described a government crackdown that is more pervasive and more sectarian than previously understood, with civilians affiliated with President Bashar al-Assad’s minority religious sect shooting at their onetime neighbors as the military presses what many Sunnis see as a campaign to force them to flee their homes and villages in some sections of the country.

“We know them,” said Umm Nasser, 34, a pregnant woman sheltering with female residents and their dozen children in a farm building. “We used to live side by side.”

Background Vocabulary | Read the entire article with your class, using the questions below. As students read, they should circle each proper name. You may wish to introduce students to the following words or concepts before reading: refugee, heterodox, secular, sectarian, nom de guerre, pluralistic.

Questions | For reading comprehension and discussion:

Who is the reporter interviewing, and where is the interview taking place?

What religious group or groups do the villagers belong to? What group does President Bashar al-Assad belong to? And which group is the majority in Syria?

What do the villagers say happened to them, and who are they blaming?

Can you find any places in the story where the reporter tells us whether we can fully trust these refugees’ stories? Why might a reporter have a hard time verifying reports going into the newspaper?

Can you find references to other types of evidence in the story, such as documents or photographs, that might support the refugees’ claims?

From NYTimes.com

Around the Web

Activity | Divide students into groups. Ask them as a group to write down a list of each of the people they encountered in the story (around 12). Each student then takes responsibility for several people on the list, writing a short summary of each person, including their name, religious group, other identifying details, and what they told the reporter. In a few cases, the person is identified only as someone who died in the fighting, and some people are quoted in more than one part of the story.

In class discussion, go down the list and ask students from each group to present their summaries, helping each other fill in details. If you want, take down a basic list on the board as they report.

Now probe deeper with some questions designed to help students reflect on what they’ve learned:

What do these people have in common?

Do their stories seem to follow a common theme or perspective on the fighting?

Any disagreements or contradictions?

Based on what these people are saying, what conclusions can we draw about this conflict and who’s to blame for the fighting?

Next, ask a few questions designed to help students think critically about this information:

Do we believe these people and trust this information?

Do you think this group of people is typical or atypical of Syrian society, or do we have enough information to make such a judgment?

What sorts of people would you seek to interview in order to reach a fuller understanding of the conflict?

Going Further | Below, our suggestions for additional ways to teach about this complex conflict:

a) Mock News Conference: Watch the New York Times video “A Surgeon’s Call to Duty” and read the story “Life During Wartime.” How do these accounts, both produced by non-Syrians visiting the country, add to our understanding of the war? Ask students to generate a list of interview questions for either surgeon Jacques Bérès or journalist Janine di Giovanni, as well as plausible responses. (For example: What motivates you to visit Syria at a time when even many residents are leaving? What does di Giovanni mean when she says, ‘In war, truth dies first’?) Then ask for student volunteers to sit in the “hot seat” and play the role of surgeon or journalist, fielding questions from classmates in a mock news conference.

b) Writing Prompt: Even basic necessities like food and water are harder to come by during a war, and sometimes residents have to improvise to get what they need. Brainstorm with students on the types of changes war might bring to their own local economy. Then read “For Rebel Fight in Syrian City, Baking Bread is Urgent Task.” Students can write about how war has affected the Syrian economy, and how residents on both sides of the conflict have adapted in order to survive or profit.

c) Writing Historical Fiction: War thrusts ordinary people into extraordinary situations. Last month journalists from The New York Times spent five days traveling with members of an armed group of Syrian rebels and hearing their stories. They met an accountant, a real estate agent, a nurse, construction workers, farmers and army defectors, all of whom are now risking their lives to overthrow the Syrian government. How has war changed these people and life in the city of Tal Rifaat?

Read “Life With Syria’s Rebels in a Cold and Cunning War.” Ask students to look for a scene, incident or personal account in the story and expand upon it, writing a piece of historical fiction that uses facts from the story to draw a convincing portrait. They may choose to expand upon a conversation, adding lines of dialogue and description to make the scene come alive. Alternatively, they can write a first-person account of one character’s experiences before and during the war, or write a convincing account of what might happen to them next.

d) Model U.N.: How do you end a war? And what role are outside countries such as the United States and Russia playing in ending the Syrian conflict? Help lead students toward some possible ways that wars are resolved – negotiations between warring groups; mediation from outside groups, such as the U.N.; armed intervention by other countries; continued fighting until one group wins; etc. – and write brainstorming ideas on the board under the heading: Ending wars: Brainstorming Ideas. Assign individual students or groups to use the stories below to develop responses in two additional categories: Ending Syrian War: Who’s Doing What? and Ending Syrian War: Challenges.

Reading
1. Read closely to determine what the text says explicitly and to make logical inferences from it; cite specific textual evidence when writing or speaking to support conclusions drawn from the text.
2. Determine central ideas or themes of a text and analyze their development; summarize the key supporting details and ideas.
3. Analyze how and why individuals, events and ideas develop and interact over the course of a text.
7. Integrate and evaluate content presented in diverse formats and media, including visually and quantitatively, as well as in words.
8. Delineate and evaluate the argument and specific claims in a text, including the validity of the reasoning as well as the relevance and sufficiency of the evidence.

Writing:
1. Write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts, using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence.
2. Write informative/explanatory texts to examine and convey complex ideas and information clearly and accurately through the effective selection, organization and analysis of content.
8. Gather relevant information from multiple print and digital sources, assess the credibility and accuracy of each source, and integrate the information while avoiding plagiarism.

Speaking and Listening:
1. Prepare for and participate effectively in a range of conversations and collaborations with diverse partners, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.
2. Integrate and evaluate information presented in diverse media and formats, including visually, quantitatively and orally.
4. Present information, findings, and supporting evidence such that listeners can follow the line of reasoning and the organization, development and style are appropriate to task, purpose and audience.

World History
44. Understands the search for community, stability and peace in an interdependent world.
45. Understands major global trends since World War II.
46. Understands long-term changes and recurring patterns in world history.

The civil war in Syria seems as its end is far too distant, and it is hard to imagine more conflict making the lives of those who live there in danger. i hope they resolve these conflicts and continue to form a great democrcay.

The journalist was interviewing refugees who are living nearby Syria in Lebanon. they have fled because of the terrible things that the government is doing. From their perspective, Sunni muslims are being targeted by the government and other religious groups. Other citizens have fled to places within the country in an attempt to avoid the sectarian crackdown of the government on Sunni Muslims.
The president and most government officials are Alawite(another religious group). This creates a problem because the majority of the citizens are Sunni Muslims. Both groups blame the other for starting the sectarian conflict, but the story focuses solely on the view of the refugees.
Because the journalist only interviewed refugees, the story may be biased or unreliable. He is not necessarily covering the whole story or showing both sides to the story. The refugees themselves might be lying to and are hard to source. None of them want to give the journalist their whole name. possibly due to fear that they will be targeted by someone.
Personally i think the Syrian government has done very bad things over the span of this conflict. They used chemical weapons on their own citizens and seem to be supplying weapons to certain citizens which furthers the conflict. In the article, it also addresses another terrible thing done by the government. The officials detained someone and then probably murdered him. The government is obviously not playing the role they need to in order to have a just government.